All We Need Is a Shoulder to Cry On
by amythestpony
Summary: Lilly, Lorelei, and Lila have been on the run since they were children. Now that they are teenagers, Lilly suddenly decides to search for their father, in fear that he may be in danger. Takes place during The Order of the Phoenix, in hopes of saving certa
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One 

"I feel cold Lilly. Really cold," the small sound came from a red-headed woman lying on her back, arms spread out like a shot-down hawk. There was a dagger stabbed through her stomach. A younger version of the woman ran up to the wounded Lorelei-like creature.

"Mom! Mom you're bleeding! Mom there's a knife in your stomach!"

"Promise me you'll be brave," a weak voice sounded in realization.

"No! Don't leave me! Not now, not now!" A girl said through sobs.

"Just promise me, please, it's my final request," the voice uttered.

"I'm not letting you go, no! I love you! No! No! NOOO!" The small girl threw her arms around the owner of the weak voice.

"promise me that you'll always be brave, that you'll always have hope, that you'll always be the wisest girl in the world. Promise me that when all seems lost you won't give up. Promise me you'll take care of your sisters. You're the eldest Lilly. Promise me, Lilly, just promise me," The woman who owned the voice said between raspy breaths.

"I promise, to never let you go! I promise to be brave, to have hope, to be wise, to never give up, to do good, to look after Lila and Lorelei ….as long as you're with me," The little girl declared through her tears, not truly understanding what she was saying, what she was binding herself to.

"I'll always be with you," The woman whispered then closed her chocolate colored eyes. She showed no sign of life. Her once rosy lips were now blue, her once glowing skin was now pale and sickly. All color left the once sprightly nymph. The younger red-head was shocked. Her emerald-colored eyes were filled with agony and sorrow. She cried out in pain.

"Mom? Mom! MOM! No, you're not gone, no! No! NO! NOOOOOO!"

Lilly looked up into the eyes of her mother's killer as he approached. They were identical to her own, emerald green, with long dark lashes. His hair disheveled, and platinum blonde. His name was Stephan, and his clothing was splattered with blood; her mother's blood. Stephan had a malicious grin as he stepped forward to finish the job, and kill Lilly too. After all, he thought, it shouldn't be that hard, the girl is but a mere nymphette. He was about to plunge his second dagger into the young girls stomach, the only place in which you could possibly kill a nymph , when the young girl raised her mother's sword and stabbed him. He abruptly felt immense pain all over and literally combusted into flames screaming in terror and agony, for that wasn't any ordinary sword, and definitely no ordinary girl.

Lilly was shocked. She wasn't even seven years old yet and she had already killed someone. She felt like she lost something, when she would become older she'd realize it was her innocence. She stared down at her blood stained clothes, further proof of her evil deed. _Never again, _she vowed to herself, _never again will I hurt someone this much._ Her vow was in vain, for in the future she would have to kill, and keep on killing to keep her promise to her mother.

Lilly stared down at her mother's body and remembered her promise. She looked around until she found the agreed hiding spot for her sisters. She walked up to the little ditch behind the trees and bushes, stomped her feet three times then shouted, 'Layla!' their mother's first name. Two identical curly-haired brunettes raised their heads at the same time crying. They had heard the screams of their mother as she was brutally murdered, and the shrieks of the evil one as their sister killed him.

Lilly began to sob and Lila and Lorelei soon joined her. The three sisters hugged and cried in their sorrow. The realization that they were now orphans dawned on them, for their father had left them long ago, and that horrible monster had killed their mother, and Lilly avenged their mother by stabbing him, with the sword of the nymphs. It now glowed ominously, the symbols on it declaring what was to come. 12 zodiac signs engraved on the handle glowed prophesizing what was to come. The girls were oblivious though still grieving over their mother, and their sister's lost innocence. Being only eight years old, and having to kill in order to avenge her mother and save her sisters, was heartbreaking. There they sat Lilly the Leo, Lila and Lorelei the Gemini. They knew nothing of the journey to come.

(9 Years later on the streets of Didsbury, Manchester. England is experiencing it's wonderful summer…..with pouring rain)

The streets are filled with pedestrians not minding the rain as it's an expected part in their town. Umbrella or no umbrella, everyone knew it was going to rain, that was the way it was. Among the pedestrians was a 5 foot 5" red-head with emerald eyes. Dressed in jeans, a dark green hoody, and black converse high tops, carrying a green mini-back pack, she was nothing out of the ordinary. No one knew what she was, who she really was, or what she was up to. She made a few turns until she reached an old park. It was pretty empty except for two identical twin girls, obviously a bit younger than the red-head and shorter by an inch.

"So how much longer until we go back?" Lila asked.

"Yeah, we don't have to stay here for another day right? This weather is so gloomy," Lorelei lightly complained, missing the warm summers of the United States.

"You guys, you know we can't go back until we know that there isn't anyone chasing us anymore, remember last year?" Lilly said, and all three sisters shuddered at the memory.

"Please Lils, don't remind me!" Lorelei was being followed by her 'stalker', Max, who the sisters simply thought was another of her many admirers. After all, Lorelei was quite the outgoing flirt, but it turned out 'Max', was actually Maximus, one of Stephan's old followers. Stephan's old friends still held a grudge against Lilly for killing their master, and because Lila and Lorelei were her sisters, they were pulled into the hunt as well, and were often used as bait in little schemes such as the one with Max.

"Well, it's in the past now, and I don't think we'll be going back for a while," Lilly proclaimed.

"How come?" Lila asked, she was always seeking answers to questions. Unlike her twin, Lila was quite shy, and more entertained by books than parties. She was very smart, but wasn't very well-aware of it. She could only be comfortable around people she trusted, and that was basically only her sisters. She did have friends, but not incredibly close ones she could truly be herself around. They moved around way too much to have time to settle and make close friends.

"Well, I want to find our father," Lilly announced, which left the twins in a shocked state.

"But, but he left us. He doesn't want to see us!" Lorelei stated, "Plus he could be anywhere! I mean like, anywhere in the WORLD! How're we going to find him?"

"I hate to break it to you Lils, but Lory is right. We have no idea what so ever where he may be. For all we know he could be dead," Lila proclaimed.

"I know he's not dead you guys, I can just feel it. Besides, we know dad was British, mom told us, and I still remember the way he talked. And anyway, I had a vision," Lilly explained. That seemed to grasp her sister's full attention. Lilly's visions always came true, unless the sisters found a way to stop them if they were bad.

"What did you see?" They said at the same time, which made Lilly crack a smile, which was very rare, considering what she had been through.

"Well I saw him talking to someone with a British accent, an old man. I figured out that the old man's name was Dumbledor. They were saying something about a Lord something or other, maybe it was Voldesnort, Voldebort, no, oh yeah! It was Lord Voldemort. Yes, anyway they were talking about him, and what he was planning, then the old man disappeared with a 'pop' and Dad sank into his chair and looked really tired and muttered something under his breath that sounded like, 'It's all happening at Hogwarts.'" Lilly explained. "I have a feeling that dad might be in danger, same thing with that Dumbledor guy."

"Oh Lils, and you want us to go save him, huh?" Lila figured out; Lorelei still looked confused.

"You guys, I know that my visions tend to pull us into trouble, but we have to help," Lilly pleaded.

"I'm with you Lils, no matter what," Lorelei began, "but give me one reason why we should help Severus Snape," she said. Lorelei was always loyal, and was kind to nearly everyone, but not very bright or truly exceptionally brave. This would probably be the only matter she'd question her sister about.

"Because, he's our father, not someone we'll ever be able to call 'dad,' but he is definitely our father," Lilly explained. Although she wasn't a very fun person, she was responsible and brave. She, like Lila, didn't have many friends, but for a different reason. Lilly would be afraid to get close to anyone, for fear of putting their lives in danger. She was polite, but put a distance between herself and everyone else, excluding her sisters. Lilly wasn't exceptionally bright, but she was very brave, and would always put saving somebody else before saving herself. She was a little bossy, but her sisters secretly agreed that she had the right to be, after all, she had saved them far more times than they could count. Her only real problem was her fiery temper, which got her into trouble, a lot.

"I guess it's settled then, we're off to find Snape, and the best place to start would be Hogwarts," Lila concluded.

"But how will we get there?" Lorelei inquired.

A/N: Well that was chapter one, I hope you liked it, I enjoyed writing it. Don't worry, you'll see more of Hogwarts next chapter. Please review, constructive criticism is welcome.


	2. Trust is a Funny Thing

_Trust is a funny thing. When you love someone, you give them the power to destroy you; you just trust them not to. When you trust someone, you give them a shred of your soul that they could easily destroy, ripping your very essence bit by bit, you just believe in your heart they won't do so. When you believe in something or someone strongly, you give that thing or person control of your happiness which they could demolish easily; you simply have faith that they won't hurt you. When you have faith in anything, that thing could collapse and fail you miserably, you just hope it won't. When you hope, you are at your most vulnerable state, and anything can hurt you, and there's no solid substance to protect you, all you can do is love that thing to the point you know if it didn't come through, you'd collapse, but your love for it makes you trust it. Yes, trust is a funny thing._

_I trusted someone, I loved them, I believed in them, I had faith in them, and I had hope for them. And now I am vanquished, I am destroyed, I'm demolished, I have been failed, I have been hurt, and I have collapsed. Trust is indeed a funny thing. It is what truly betrayed me, and so I shall never trust again. I am no longer naïve. I am no longer innocent. I am no longer weak. I am wise. I am tainted. I am strong. I am no longer corrupted by society. I am pure of its biased sugary sweet coating on everything. I am no longer clean of the world's impurity. I am officially sullied by its dross. I am no longer a child. I am now an adult._

_My name is Layla, and this is my story._

_It all started with one of my visions, as usual. I was almost three years old and my mother was going into labor with my youngest brother, Stephan, who would later be known as the one who took away my trust.. I was thrown into a vision as my mother screamed in her pain. I could still hear screaming, but it was worse, much worse….._

Lilly woke up with a gasp. Visions at night were always the worst, like nightmares that crawled up on you when you were vulnerable, unprepared. However, she had never had a vision of her mother's past, let alone her thoughts. Her mother's pain was so, so piercing. She could still taste the rage, loneliness, cold bitter feelings. It was horrible, awful, and tainting. She felt as if she was her mother, her cheeks felt wet and she moved her hands to touch them, tears, there were tears.

Her mother was crying, and so was she. 'No!' she thought, 'Mom is dead, she wasn't crying, it was only me being a stupid baby. It's all Stephan's fault. And to think that monster was my uncle. Disgraceful. I have to try to get some sleep, I have to focus, tomorrow we go to Kings Cross Station and find platform 9 ¾.' She rested her head on her pillow, ribbons of red hair fanned around her like an eerie halo, 'One I don't deserve,' she thought bitterly, 'Angels wear halos, and I've killed too much to be an Angel,' She swatted at her tears, and breathed deeply. She needed rest, it was a big day tomorrow, and Lila and Lory were counting on her to lead them. It was a burden she was bound to by the promise she made to her mother, but she would have cared for her sisters with or without the oath anyway. Her sisters were the most important things to her, and unfortunately, all of Stephan's old accomplices knew that. The rapscallions used her sisters as bait far too many times, and Lilly always blamed herself. Guilt was an awful emotion; burning your insides with shame, causing you sleepless nights. It was an emotion that Lilly was familiar with, one she carried around with her every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day. 'Now is not the time to wallow in my guilt,' she told herself, 'Lils, you better toughen up. How else will you get to Hogwarts in one piece?' she pondered. Of course, she did have to work to find out where Hogwarts was…..

FLASHBACK:

"How will we get there?" Lorelei inquired.

"Well, it looks like this Hogwarts thing has to do with witchcraft," Lilly began.

"Ugh! Not more witches! Remember when me and Lila were like kidnapped by that Ezmaldina girl? She like, tried to cook us so she could steal our youth, or something," Lorelei remembered the traumatizing experience, she was ten at the time it happened, Lilly was twelve.

"Lila and I," Lila corrected.

"That makes no sense, smart one. You're Lila Duh!" Lorelei didn't get that Lila was correcting her grammar, "You're supposed to be the smart one,"

"Whatever. Besides, only some witches do the whole 'boil and bubble children' thing," Lila ignored her sister's 'smart one' comment, there was no point in arguing with someone who didn't really understand the point to begin with.

"Ezmaldina was part of a coven and read a bunch of Wicca books, right?" Lilly questioned.

"Yes, and there are areas in England dedicated to cult groups, and you can identify the witches and warlocks from each one by the charm necklaces they wear," Lila told them.

"Well we know father left mom for a cult group called the 'death munchers'," Lilly stated.

"I think you mean 'death eaters', and they claim that their magic is real," Lila corrected.

"Well, don't they all?" Lilly asked.

"Yes but there is a difference. There are people called Wiccans who practice Wicca. They are medicine men and women, however some are a bit different with their thoughts and believe their medicine is a magical potion, rather than a healing solution. They call themselves Witches and Warlocks, and form in groups called covens or covenants. Contraire to popular belief, they do not worship Satan, that would actually go against Wicca beliefs." Lila lectured.

"Um, your point?" Lorelei asked.

"I'm getting to it! Well those in a coven don't really have magical powers, they are mere muggles. The way we can say the Deatheaters have real magic is because they are not recorded in the Coven listings, meaning they are unheard of by non-magic folk." Lila continued.

"Well, I still don't see the point!" Lorelei interrupted. Lilly glared at her as if to say, 'hush up, she's getting to it,'

"The point is, if we check the coven listings and see that they are not there, that means that father's magic is real, and not just cult-inspired," Lila kept going.

"So, is that good?" Lilly asked.

"Well, if the magic is real, then we know that these 'death eaters' can be looked up in the real magic listings," Lila proclaimed.

"Our type of magic?" Lorelei asked.

"Not exactly. We're nymphs, while if dad and his death eaters are for real, then they would be witches and wizards," Lila explained.

"Still not getting how this will help us find Hogwarts," Lory complained.

"Well, if we can look them up in mom's old scrolls, then that might lead us to where Hogwarts might be," Lila continued.

"Why don't we just look up Hogwarts?" Lory asked.

"Because mom's old scrolls are all records of her visions, and I would have seen them glow when my vision mentioned Hogwarts," Lilly answered this.

"Huh?" Lorelei asked feeling totally confused.

"Mom's scrolls glow whenever Lilly's visions have mentions of what is in them," Lila said.

"But, then wouldn't they glow because dad was in the vision?" Lorelei asked.

"Dad probably wasn't in any of the visions that mom recorded," Lilly sounded sure.

"How do you know that?" Lila asked this time.

"I just do. I can sense that, feel that," Lilly explained.

"Okay, well we aren't ones to judge on your intuition Lils, so whatever," Lila said while Lorelei nodded.

"Maybe we should just skip looking up the whole coven thing. If dad wasn't really magical, how else would mom have met him?" Lorelei stated.

"Are you sure you're just not afraid of witches?" Lilly grinned.

"Of course not! Just, don't make me come near them again," Lory meekly squeaked, and Lilly and Lila laughed, and Lory joined them. Each remembering the experience with Ezmaldina, the old crackpot.

"Anyway, I guess we could skip that part of the plan," Lila figured, "Let's just look up 'death eaters' in mom's scrolls,"

"Okay troops, homeward bound to the apartment," They held hands and Lilly whisked them away in a swirl of light to inside the apartment they were renting. It was bare, save for suitcases that were half unpacked and books strewn across the floor, as well as a chest made of cherry oak. Lilly motioned with her hands like a conductor for the chest to come to her telekinetically. It was summoned right to her hands in a flourish.

"Show off," the twins joked and Lilly just grinned. Those two always provided comic relief to their hectic lives. Lily placed her right hand over the chest and muttered words to unlock it that shall be kept confidential. The chest unlocked, and Lilly opened it and revealed the rolled up parchment inside, covered with their mother's spidery handwriting.

"I wish too find the recording of the vision of death eaters," Lilly announced, and the scrolls bounced and one shot up in the air, and Lorelei reached to catch it. She handed it to Lila who opened it gently and carefully, as to not rip the fragile page. She began to read silently, scanning for the word death eater, her eyes lit up when she found it.

"Death eaters! Mom scribbled down death eaters, they have to be for real now!" Lila said excitedly, not knowing that the fact that death eaters existed was not a good thing at all.

"What's written down about them?" Lilly asked.

"It says that they are," Lila's eyes darkened, her smile disappeared, "They are a group of wizards and witches who follow an evil wizard,"

"What's his name?" Lilly inquired frantically, hoping that it wasn't Voldemort.

"It doesn't say," Lorelei remarked. Lilly touched the scroll and was plunged into a vision of words. She hated these, it was like getting flashes of a newspaper headline that was really juicy; pure torture. Lilly read: Death Eaters follow Lord Voldemort, Dumbledore's group Order of the Phoenix strikes back, Voldemort vanquished by Harry Potter, Voldemort restored back to life, Hogwarts under Headmaster Dumbledore, Kings Cross Station platform 9 ¾ to Hogwarts……

"Ouch!" Lilly was pulled out of the word vision, and felt her head hurt. She was dizzy and tired, Lorelei held her while Lila got her a glass of water. After she drank she told the girls about what she saw, correction what she read.

"It looks like we have to go to Kings Cross Station then," Lilly inferred.

"What kind of a platform is 9 ¾?" Lila questioned, she was sure one didn't exist.

"One that's in between platforms 9 and 10?" Lory joked.

"Before we get to the platform, we have to find Kings Cross Station," Lilly reasoned.

"I know that it is in London, so we have to take a train there first," Lila stated.

"Great, well we still have some cash left. I hope that it's enough," Lilly thought out loud, "Now we just need to get tickets. Hey where's Lory?"

The girl in question walked in on the phone giggling, "Yes Jake, I do love your just-out-of-bed hair! He he, you're so funny. Really? You'd do that for me? Awe! You're so sweet. I love when a rugged man can be a softy. Heh, heh, Love ya too, bye!" She hung up and smiled to her sisters questioning looks.

"Now is not the time for," Lilly began.

"One of my boyfriends," Lory answered rolling her eyes, knowing what Lila was going to say, "But I just scored us tickets to a train leaving for London in about two hours, so we better get packing," Lory grinned at her sisters' shocked looks, "I told you flirting with that cute guy would come in handy!"

end flash back

'The train ride had been comfortable enough, and that Jake guy did have some information as to where Kings Cross was, so it seems Lory's flirting actually did come in handy,' Lilly thought to herself. The girls had crashed at a youth hostel, and were leaving for Kings Cross first thing in the morning to find out where platform 9 ¾ was. Lilly shut her eyes and tried to will her self to sleep, tomorrow was a big day, and she needed to be ready.

A/N: THANKYOU TO ALL WHO REVIEWED! YOU ROCK!


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